Jump to content
Find Professionals    Deals    Get Quotations   Portfolios
Sign in to follow this  
Catt

Small House Holding Our Big Dreams

Recommended Posts

Looking for good contractors? Click here for your request

11 Dec'16 Update:

The final 'big' item for the house is finally here. It's a little too small since I'd not intended to use it for the living room initially. Watevs... I can always get a bigger one down the road from Taobao when I get bored of this design. This took long enough to arrive as it was out of stock during the 11 11sales.

qs2m2x.jpg

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 03/12/2016 at 0:09 PM, Catt said:

3 Dec'16 Update:

It's been about a month and a half since I've moved in. Slowly I see minor issues surfacing (not so much issues, more of discovering that the carpentry is sub-par). But! I've moved in, I've 'eaten the steak' so...live with it! The carpenters have indulged in a couple of shortcuts, one of which I will mention here. Under the kitchen cabinets, the cabinets are not actually 'sitting' on the cement base. They are placed on top of thin little stacked up pieces of wood (like a few smartphones stacked on top of each other). That means there is a gap between the cabinet and the base. This gap is not sealed. I discovered it only when a cockroach came into the kitchen one night and I sprayed insecticide on it. It ran under the cabinet overhanging the cement base and DISAPPEARED. That's when I got down on my hands and knees, with my face pressed to the floor, and discovered this disgusting shortcut. So the cockroach died under the cabinet and it will forever be entombed there. #%&&&^^*&$%@!!%!$ This means I will forever live in fear of roaches and other insects/ lizards creating nests under the cabinets.

I will have to seal up both the cabinet bases myself with sealant. I'm NOT calling the contractor back. Disgusting.

On a positive note, my major furniture have all arrived. The Suar wood dining table and bench came today and Darkling Half was ecstatic. She chose this slab of wood for the tabletop because of this marking on it that looks like Jupiter rings to me. I know it's slightly 'odd' as it goes against the flow of the grain. But whatever right? She likes it, so there! We can stare at the rings and contemplate the mysteries of life and the universe. Other than the table, I also bought a turner stool from Crate & Barrel during a 20% sale. To me it is quite pricey, but again, I feel guilty that I've taken over the step ladder stool in the kitchen, so I'm overcompensating with a stool for her. Lazy to take pics of the stool, you can google for it! Instead, enjoy some table p**n here:

Chairs are not from Arthur Zaaro. I think I mentioned that they are from Blaufink which is located next to Arthur Zaaro. The chairs arrived yesterday. 

dcq9ht.jpg

Here are the contemplative rings of life:

vzhhqc.jpg

P**n means excessive pics. Here's one more. Look at those markings! 

35mo9hx.jpg

 

One more item for the house is arriving. It got delayed due to the 11.11 Sale and Ezybuy was overwhelmed. Will post this item when it arrives and I install it in its final resting place. ;)

wah! cockroaches!!!!! i kennat!!!!!!!! on a lighter note, that table is really nice! im lost for words! 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
15 hours ago, kachan said:

wah! cockroaches!!!!! i kennat!!!!!!!! on a lighter note, that table is really nice! im lost for words! 

Hate cockroaches! 

Thanks for the praise...we do love that table too!

 
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
8 hours ago, northblue said:

By the way is it made by the carpenter or did buy it?:huh:

I bought it from Arthur Zaaro. So you go to the store and select a wood slab you like, pick the legs and they make it into a table for you.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Short Update 19 Jan 2017

So I have to share all the good, the bad and the ugly right?

On New Year's Eve, I discovered that my shoe cabinet was infested by wood-eating larva which develop into beetles when full-grown. The beetle looks black and the larva is off-white. I'm not sure what species it is.

Anyway, I discovered it as there were funny track mark-type bumps under the inner white laminate of the cabinet. And holes!! and sawdust at the bottom of the cabinet. And the body of a beetle-like creature! Argggh. I threw away the body as I was too distraught. Initially I wanted to just clear out all the holes (I found about 4 holes with tunnels) and then put in wood-filler and call it a day.

Then as I was applying the wood-filler, I noticed more bumps under the laminate. Since there were already holes, I decided to cut open the bumps with a penknife. There were soft bits of pulpy wood underneath, not solid like the rest of the plywood. I didn't see anything. Then I noticed a tiny hole in the tunnel and poked it with a toothpick.

YUCK!! A larva was pulled out. I tried to take a picture of it, but since it is whitish, it is hard to see, but I could see it there, stabbed by my toothpick, glistening in the torch lighting.

After that I discovered even more bumps and just threw my hands up in the air and called the contractor. That was almost 3 weeks ago. Luckily the carpenter came back and installed a new cabinet for me. I hope it is just this cabinet and not ALL the plywood built-ins in the entire house. I will just die. I guess the wood he obtained was not treated properly. And I am lucky they took responsibility to change it as they initially came with a tube of sealant to just seal the holes made by the larva.

YUCKS See the worm??!

zkhb4n.jpg

 

These were two holes made at one side of the cabinet and were smaller.

bfpedx.jpg

Since the carpenter came down yesterday, they also sealed the bottom of the kitchen cabinets for me (yay no more entombing cockroach fears) and fixed one of the sliding doors of the wardrobe which had gotten wonky (Apparently the pulley/wheel inside broke or went off-track).

So the only thing I have to do now is to patch the paint around the shoe cabinet myself, as they had to remove the infested cabinet and the removal damaged the paint.

 

Wheeew!

 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just joined the forum and I love your kitchen! Especially those subway tiles (I just found out that's what it is called)

 
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×